Change Healthcare acquires PokitDok Assets

Today Change Healthcare announced the acquisition of PokitDok’s assets including software and IP. The PokitDok team will be joining as well. Change Healthcare and PokitDok were two of the most significant players in blockchain healthcare. PokitDok describes itself as “an API platform built to streamline healthcare transactions & power the business of health”. The acquirer sees the integration of key PokitDok APIs as a major benefit.

“As the leader in blockchain for healthcare and with one of the most extensive open API marketplaces available, with PokitDok we are bringing together synergistic assets and technical expertise for delivering additional capabilities to our customers and accelerated value to digital health markets,” said Kris Joshi, Ph.D., executive VP and president, Network Solutions, Change Healthcare.

Change Healthcare is a clearinghouse for medical data connecting payers including insurers with providers such as hospitals and patients. It’s ranked fourth in healthcare informatics in the U.S. In 2017 the company first deployed blockchain and made its “Intelligent Healthcare Network” available in January of this year. The platform runs in parallel with existing systems and is based on Hyperledger Fabric.

The blockchain runs at enterprise scale. It operates a claims network that connects 2,200 government and commercial payers, 5,500 hospitals, 900,000 physicians and 33,000 pharmacies. In the year to 31 March 2018 it facilitated 14 billion healthcare transactions and $1 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures. It’s capable of processing 550 transactions per second which translates to 50 million transactions per day.

Change Healthcare is 70% owned by pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson and McKesson Ventures was an investor in PokitDok. In October Reuters reported that Change Healthcare hired underwriters for an IPO which could value the business at up to $12 billion.

PokitDok was founded in 2011 and raised $53 million in funding according to Crunchbase. It launched its DokChain blockchain in 2016. Techcrunch reported that the platform involved a consortium of more than 40 companies including Intel, Amazon, Capital One, Guardian and Ascension. The technology used is Hyperledger Sawtooth the high-performance blockchain that Intel contributed to Hyperledger.

Today in a similar move in the trade finance sector, Tradeshift acquired Babelway which helps companies integrate documentation used in supply chains.